Arizona Trip, Day 3!

We woke up early this morning and were out of our hotel room by 6am. We drove into Madera Canyon, only about 10 miles from where we are staying. We spent the whole day there, making several stops and seeing lots of different things. Here's a picture of the ruins of White House, an adobe house built in the 1880s. Jonathan and I were pretty happy today. Madera Canyon offers much more shade than the desert we were in yesterday, so it was much less tiring.
For the first part of the morning, we didn't come across many other birders; we were mostly alone on the trails we walked. But when we came to Madera Kubo, we saw a group of several birders on the side of the road. Knowing that the Flame-colored Tanager had been seen here, we went straight to where the big group was--sure that this was what they were all looking at. Sure enough there he was. And there he stayed for several minutes, allowing all to get a satisfying look. These tanagers belong in Mexico. But this one particular bird has come back to the same spot every Spring since 2003. We wonder how many more Springs he'll be alive and able to come back here to grace the people of Arizona with his presence.
After lunch, we took a little hike on the Vault Mine Trail. This was a nice walk, offering a couple of new bird species for us (Arizona Woodpecker, and Magnificent Hummingbird) and some beautiful scenery.
We finished off the afternoon at the Santa Rita Lodge. This place has several bird feeders on its grounds. We just sat down nearby and waited for the birds to come to us--a nice, peaceful way to end the day. This was another place that attracts birders, so we weren't alone here either.
We got back to the hotel a little after 5pm, and are now enjoying a relaxing evening. Here's the list of birds that we saw today in Madera Canyon, more or less in the order that we saw them (life birds are indicated by asterisk).

1. Acorn Woodpecker
2. Northern Cardinal
3. Hermit Thrush
4. Chipping Sparrow
5. White-crowned Sparrow
6. Cassin's Vireo* (lifer for Jonathan; I actually saw this once in '05 with my Ornithology class)
7. Mexican Jay*
8. Lesser Goldfinch
9. Ladder-backed Woodpecker*
10. Wilson's Warbler
11. Broad-billed Humminbird
12. Turkey Vulture
13. Bridled Titmouse*
14. Black-throated Gray Warbler
15. White-breasted Nuthatch
16. Ash-throated Flycatcher
17. Yellow-rumped Warbler
18. Painted Redstart
19. Flame-colored Tanager** (2 asterisks cause it's just THAT cool)
20. Black Phoebe
21. Scott's Oriole*
22. Hooded Oriole
23. Hutton's Vireo*
24. Red-naped Sapsucker*
25. Mourning Dove
26. Black-chinned Hummingbird
27. Rufous Hummingbird
28. Black-headed Grosbeak
29. House Finch
30. Townsend's Warbler
31. White-throated Swift
32. American Robin
33. Pine Siskin*
34. House Wren
35. Arizona Woodpecker*
36. Magnificent Hummingbird*
37. Lazuli Bunting
38. Bewick's Wren
39. Red-tail Hawk
40. Cooper's Hawk
41. Common Raven


Final count of lifers for the day: 11